Petar Antic is a Roma rights defender from Serbia who was among the first to speak publicly about the need for a “democratic transition” in the Roma movement more than ten years ago. In 2009 he was appointed for an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights of Serbia but in 2011 he publicly resigned from his position for moral reasons, stating that he did not want to be a token Roma for display in the Serbian public administration. He has held senior positions for the last twenty years at the OSCE, UNICEF and other international organizations.
Currently he is a Rule of Law Advisor at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Mr. Antić has published several articles in the academic journals, such as: “National Minority Recognition and the Scope of Implementation of the Framework Convention in the States of Post-Yugoslav Area” (published in IDN Belgrade, 2024); “Sanctioning Hate Speech on the Internet: In search of the Best Approach”, (published in Pravni zapisi, 2023); “Exercising the Right to Minority Self-Government in Serbia” (published in IDN Belgrade, 2021); “Is the Introduction of Mandatory Vaccination a Violation of Human rights?” (published in Branič, 2021), etc. He holds LL.M. degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Union University Faculty of Law in Belgrade.
The published text is based on an interview with Petar Antic which reflects his personal opinion and does not express the views of his employer.
We had some Roma people who chose to represent certain interest groups without legitimacy. And this has turned into a “good practice” that today almost no one disputes. In the past, we did not have a mechanism developed at European level that would ensure the presence of representatives of the Roma community in decision-making. Now, after so many years, this must change. It is necessary to form a European self-governing body that will ensure the protection and nurturing of the identity, but also promote the inclusion of Roma in the countries where they live.
The Roma issue becomes marginal issue because of the war in Ukraine and the crisis that followed as a result of the long-standing false liberalism. Right-wing political parties are gaining more and more votes because of the lack of an adequate response to migration and the coming changes in the ethnic structure of European countries. European countries need to change or harmonize their identities with their diverse populations. In Germany, as in other European countries, there is no inclusive approach, and instead there is a stronger segregation. The survival of society depends on cohesion, and it cannot exist in national-ethnic states that propagate the culture of the dominant ethnic community as the culture of the state.
The worst enemies of Roma are those who use the human rights language as a cover for their racism. We have a problem with the political parties at national level in the European countries because they want to use Roma only for votes. Also we have a problem with some of the big foundations in Europe whose approach is not very different – they use the Roma issues to advance their private interests.
The most visible and best funded European “Roma” organizations are not organizations led and formed by Roma. In the last two decades, a fake Roma activism has developed that has threatened the already weak Roma movement. Today we see Roma activism motivated mainly by financial interest. We have come to a situation where an entity established by a foundation presents itself as the Roma Cultural Institute, responsible for the preservation of the Roma identity, and it receives European funds, but was not originally formed and led by the Roma. Some Roma selected by their employer present themselves as representatives of the Roma population. This is a problem – private foundations created by Non-Roma people cannot speak for Roma in Europe. Without transparency and democratic participation, we cannot preserve the Roma identity.
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